Santa brings gifts, and condolences, to Newtown

Ericka Mellon and Dug Begley

Updated 10:41 pm, Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 1of/13

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena hugs Ajla Brescic, 6, of Stanhope, NJ, after he came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena hugs Ajla Brescic, 6, of Stanhope, NJ, after he came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 2 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena gives a gift bag to Adlin Rizal, 4, of West haven, after he came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena gives a gift bag to Adlin Rizal, 4, of West haven, after he came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 3 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena arrives at the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena arrives at the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 4 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena gives a gift bag to his helper Olicio Fernandez, of Bridgeport, to add to the memorial, after coming to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena gives a gift bag to his helper Olicio Fernandez, of Bridgeport, to add to the memorial, after coming to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 5 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, left, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, left, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 6 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, left, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, left, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 7 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, left, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, left, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 8 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 9 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, center, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena and his wife Fernanda Olivera, center, came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 10 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 11 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 12 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Image 13 of 13

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook shooting victims on Christmas Day in Newtown, Conn. on Tuesday December 25, 2012. less

A Santa portrayed by Bridgeport resident Eustaquio Pena came to the memorial set up at the Sandy Hook Volunteer Fire and Rescue building to give gift bags to children and leave items in memory of the Sandy Hook ... more

Photo: Christian Abraham

Santa brings gifts, and condolences, to Newtown

1 / 13

Back to Gallery

NEWTOWN -- The bespectacled man with the white beard and the red suit and the big belly took the sack off his shoulder and poured bite-sized chocolates into the small palms of bundled-up children on Riverside Road in snow-laced Sandy Hook.

The cards on each bag displayed the first names of the 20 children and the six Sandy Hook educators who were murdered Dec. 14, as well as the mother of the shooter, also gunned down.

This is what Christmas has become in Newtown this year, a struggle between giving and remembering what was needlessly taken.

"We are so sad. We are trying to do something -- make people feel a little better," said Luiz Fernandez, 53, of Bridgeport, who accompanied Santa.

Santa declined to be interviewed, but Fernandez identified him as his close friend, Eustaquio Pena, also of Bridgeport.

Fernandez, who works in construction, said he and his children, ages 3, 7 and 9, stayed home for most of the holiday, except for their pilgrimage to Newtown. His friend bought the Santa suit on Christmas Eve.

"I cry a lot," Fernandez said.

A couple approached Santa to say, "thank you, thank you so much."

After placing the memorial gift bags on the ground, with the help of Fernandez's 7-year-old son, Santa walked a few steps to his left. He put his right hand on his belly and stared in silence at a makeshift white picket fence featuring the names of the 26 killed at the elementary school. "Newtown Remembers our Heroes," said the sign above.

Compared to the darkness hanging over the scene of the shrines, Santa was a jolly distraction from the serious thoughts on the minds of parents, even on Christmas.

"It is so difficult to think I am just like them," said Annis Majid of West Haven, who brought her daughter and some friends from Quebec to the memorial.

Majid's daughter, Adlin Rizal, 4, is too young to understand what Newtown means. But soon she'll go from pre-K to kindergarten and enter the doors of a school.

Hopefully, Majid said, the school will not have armed guards.

"I don't want any guns surrounding her, the area, no guns," Majid said emphatically. "I want to send a message to her that, `You are safe.' Guns don't do that."

Edgar Garcia, who brought his family from Brooklyn to pay their respects on Christmas, wants the same gun-free school for his daughters, age 2 and 4.

"Arms don't solve the problem," Garcia said.

His house will also be free of violent video games, he said, noting too many horrible games are too easy for youngsters to get.

"We don't keep all the good thinking we used to keep anymore," Garcia said. "We need to return to that."